[Warning: Musk Nerd Alert]: Greg, I found out something amazing about musk turtle behavior and UVB. I checked a UVB water absorption chart online, and amazingly, the absorption coefficient of liquid water at the center of the UVB band (300 nm +/- 20 nm) is only about 3 x 10^-4 cm^-1. That means a musk turtle submerged one cm below the water surface on a rock or plant is getting more than 99.9% of the UVB at that wavelength! This is great because musks dont like to bask as they are very skittish out of the water. From a UVB point of view, the physics says they dont have to -- as long as they are under a source of UVB of sufficient intensity, they will get a good exposure even under the water surface. (It is still important to dry their shell off completely for an hour or so every day to keep the shell healthy and control the growth of algae and bacteria.) Now aquarium water is not pure H2O, so your mileage may vary. But this is good news for musk turtles everywhere! Keep up the good work.
@@GregsTurtleHaven [Warning: Musk Nerd Alert] Here's another interesting turtle physics fact: The absorption coefficient of water at UVB wavelengths (300 nm) is the same as it is for blue light (500 nm). You can't see UVB, but you can see blue light. So, if you want to check how much UVB your turtle is getting at a certain depth of water, get a blue light bulb or put a blue plastic film over a white light bulb and see how much blue light shines on the turtle at that water depth, compared to the intensity at the surface. That ratio is the percentage of UVB he is getting at that depth. Of course, light doesnt shine through foliage or mud very well, so this only applies to a straight, unobstructed line-of-sight through clear water. Keep up the great videos!
I just caught a stinkpot today. I went a quarter of a century without seeing one (I live in northern Ohio) he was just derping around along the edge of a pond. It's always awesome to catch something new.. it goes on my list of "herps"
@@CJM-rg5rt CJ, stinkpots are hard to care for properly in captivity, and take a lot of work and study to keep them happy and healthy. For that reason, I never take turtles out of the wild. How about letting your little guy go in the wild where you got him? I guarantee he will be your friend for life.
@@djarnoldo516 I'm of the same opinion, what made you think I took him? I reached down and picked him up (that's how they end up on my list) then I let them go exactly where I find them. Just a new species which is always great.. even if it's not a snake which my preference.
In high school, our biology teacher took us on a field trip from Maryland down to Georgia where we collected reptiles including a loggerhead musk turtle. As a kid I thought this was pretty cool, but now that I know better, it would have been better had we just observed them in their native habitat. That was back in 1974. 49 years later, I still have that turtle, alive and in good health.
my personal fav are razorbacks but appreciate your opinion/video! i have 2 right now and their personalities are completely different - it's very cool to watch them grow and develop!
Man I have had a heck of time finding anyone selling Loggerhead musk turtles after watching several videos about them. Maybe later in the year I'll have better luck.
My personal favourite is red belly Nelson turtle ,it have these attractive red stripes on their shells and sometimes when they get older they have thicker red patterns around them.
Love the musk turtles too. I have a trio in a 20l planted with drift wood and rock are. Substrate is a layer of topsoil the a layer of sand. The plants love it and from what I can tell so do the turtles.
You're absolutely right.... I also love mud turtles - Sternoterus minor minor is really great. In a large pond you can certainly keep S. minor in groups, but in an aquarium it would be too risky for me, because they are quite aggressive within the species. I only put my animals together briefly for mating. By the way you've got a great pond for your turtles!
@@AyoWyldChild777 How old? Where did you get it from? What was it eating prior to you getting it? What resources are you using for providing a proper setup?
Very good video! I can hear you and the great information you share. The last video I saw was all blues and babbling. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and sharing your integrity. ☺🎯
The meanest thing my razorback has done is he went through a phase where he would nip my thumb when I picked him up but he's worked past that and he's nice now
You forgot to show giant Mexican musk one of my favorites like a alligator snapper mix with a musk best of both alligator snapping turtle is my main squeeze though I wounder what a giant musk mix with a Ally snapper would look like if possible 🤔
I have a razor back musk for the last 27 years and he developed some sort of infection I can not get rid of. His front leg is swollen and his bottom shel looks like the skin is bubbling over the shell. Went to Vet 4 times . Have to give him shots and it is becoming painful to do. Any suggestions? His beak is white and he does not look to good. Not eating much once again. He eats mainly krill. Desperate. Should I put something in the water?? Not sure what to do. I think he is slowly dying.
We found a tiny turtle 4 years ago on my air force base's flightline. We bought a 10 gal tank and kept him enslaved. He got a bit bigger so we upgraded to a 20 gal tank. I haven't been able to 100% identify what kind of turtle he is but I'm fairly certain he's a Florida Mud Turtle as we're in Florida. Somehow he's been living in the shop for over 4 years despite none of us knowing how to properly care for him. Anyway, what is the preferred diet for Mud Turtles? We've tried a great many things but he doesn't seem to eat most of it. Things he does like are a certain brand of Pleco Wafers for sucker fish, sometimes he eats full sized frozen shrimp. he'll eat Mole-Crickets when we catch them and toss em in the tank. His absolute favorite was pond snails one of the guys brought in, he ate 45 of them within 2 hours. Snail-mageddon! I've bought many different "turtle foods" from amazon but most of them he wont eat.
@@GregsTurtleHaven cool, can I send you a photo of my turtle to see if you can identify it for sure? I've not seen any photos that look 100% like him, only one that look pretty close. I know he's a male as he's shown his equipment and I've read a concave belly shell indicates male
I have a stinkpot, I've had her for 13 years. My parents got her at a fair, they said she was a "jellybean turtle" until later, we found out she's a stinkpot.
terrapins cant compare to other turtles... there is nothing as beautiful as them even in a whole reptile world... problem is the CARE is insane for them... you´d might say no way... wait..
Care really isn't that hard.... Honestly there's more worries with taking care of Musks then there are terrapins. DBTs are strong swimmers and once they hit 2 inches you can put them in a 100+ stock tank with no problem. Musks? If it's too deep they'll drown. Terrapins we'll chase their food and eat floating pellets. Musks? If it doesn't get down to them they have a hard time finding it. I worry more on a daily basis about my gfs razorback musk turtle then I do about my DBT.
@@fangedknight9911 musks dont need heat light nore dry dock, and they do swim pretty well and climb even better, bonus you can actually have a scaped tank for them and small for that matter. pellets they do go up to eat (not always tho..) pellets should be the last thing you should ever give to your turtles (not never!, literally last thing). Malaclemys - i guess you didnt do any real research on them, THE hardest to keep turtles: no heat light - dead, no clean water - dead, too cold - dead, bad nutrition - dead, you sneeze - dead. keep that in the back of your mind. 3 years ago i killed (no deny, my fault) 3 babys now i have 1.4 2015-2017 in august i had an insane rot on all of them even pros never seen that type...now cured. 1+year no problems before that. they always have shell rots here and there and scratches there skin..but its normal one day its there next day its gone. another guy i know had one for a year and no problems, last month his leg got stuck in a filter and few hours later he was dead (lungs filled with water). yet another guy last month told me his turtle aint eating anymore and shell is disappearing (very visable at the last few lines of scuts) he had no heat light...with proper treatment week later she was fine...
What is the best temperature range for strip neck musk turtle ? I live in a cool climate area , and water temp on my balcony can remain around 10c-28cthe whole summer from Late April - mid Octorber , do you think they can tolerate 10C water temp ?
Hey Greg. I need some advice on mud turtle egg incubation. My turtle just laid. My incubator could only reach 44% humidity so I just added some bowls of water and it's creeping up a little higher. I found some info stating 80% is needed. What are your thoughts.
Hi everyone. I am looking to get the loggerhead musk turtle for my son for his birthday (April) any suggestions on where I can find the hatchlings Greg was talking about? Thank you all for any help you can offer.
Outdoor mud turtle unit. Above ground 200 gal. (florida) Is it safe to add a ficus plant ? If they eat this creeping fig plant, will it harm them ? Thank you in advance.
I feed them a pretty varied diet; live snails, corbicula clams, crayfish, dried krill, frozen thawed krill, chopped shrimp, chopped fish, super worms, and occasional sinking cichlid pellets. Hope this is helpful! 👍🏼
You shouldn’t have gotten it if you haven’t done thorough research that shows you just bought on a whim without thinking THESE ARE LIVING CREATURES that can live for up to 50 YEARS, and it’s important you realize you will be caring for this turtles every need until your grey and old or you pass them down to your children. 75 degrees water is good, air temp should also be 75, make sure you have filter that twice the amount of gallons of water in the tank for a cleaner tank as they are very messy, have a basking spot with uvb and heating, idk what gallon tank you have but it should be atleast 30 gallons more is fine but 30 gives it optimum space, make sure you have a varied diet not just pellets feed it duckweed and other things such as snails, cray fish, worms, and etc also do not feed every day as since it’s a juvenile you want to feed it every other day as too much food is bad for the turtle. And for decorations inside the tank I suggest maybe using a mixture of river rocks and sand while also providing hiding spots such as logs or water plants and finally add some drift wood for climbing and some leaves and duckweed floating at the top for a more natural feel for the turtle.
nice video, but im not american and no where else in the world anyone uses those names or those that do literally put any name for any turtle... considering that last 3 turtles in the video as babys look exactly the same.. how to know which is which... if i get minor minor size 3-inch if i get carinatus (razorback) 8-inch...
I generally don’t recommend turtles as pets for kids under 10-12, but eastern painted turtles do really well, and are easy to care for. Russian and redfoot tortoises also have fairly simple care requirements. Just do your research and create you habitat before buying and you’ll do fine 👍🏼
Smallest pet aquatic turtle would likely be a musk turtle. A common musk will only get about 4 inches. To keep a musk turtle happy, I’d recommend a 55 or 75 gallon at the least, as they are pretty active
Gregs Turtle Haven how long will a musk turtle last in a 16g tank? Will probably have to give it to the pet shop once it’s too big, but what do you recommend?
